A Single Shard by: Linda Sue Park

Genre: Historical Fiction

Publisher: Yearling

Copyright Date: 2001

Number of Pages: 148

Reading Level: 9-12

Summary:

This is about a orphan boy living in Ch'ulp'o, Korea named Tree-ear. He lives underneath the bridge with his crippled friend Crane-man. Those are not their real names but they don't remember their real names. Tree-ear was orphaned as a toddler when his parents died of fever.

Tree-ear is an honest hard working boy who enjoys life even though he is homeless. He and Crane-man keep each other company, and have been for many years. The town of Ch'ulp'o is home to many talented potters. Tree-ear dreams of being a potter himself someday. He often sneaks in the woods right next to the most talented potter's home (Min) to watch him work. One day, when Min left to go inside, he cannot help but go take a peak and some of the work that Min keeps on the shelves outside. As he is admiring the pottery, Min catches him and scares Tree-ear so bad that he accidentally dropped the clay pot he was holding and it broke.

Min is furious and Tree-ear is horrified at what he did. For repayment he asks Min if he can work off his blunder by being h is assistant. Min agrees, and hires on tree-ear for the week. Tree-ear is excited because now he can be around the potter for a long time and watch him work. His dream is that Min will someday teach him how to make pottery, especially with the wheel.

When the week is up, Min hires on Tree-ear as his permanent assistant. Min isn't a very nice man, he is cold and rude to Tree-ear and never expresses thanks for the work Tree-Ear does for him. But Tree-ear works dutifully in hopes that he will be taught how to be a potter. Min's wife is a sweet lady who treats Tree-ear very kindly. She gives him extra food so that he can share with Crane-man at night. She gives him clothes in the winter time that he also shares with Crane-man.

Tree-ear has been working for Min for over a year when he finally asks Min if he would teach him how to make pottery. Min gets angry at him and tells him that he will never teach him how because potters only teach their sons the trade. Min lost his son to death many years before and is still bitter about it. Tree-ear is angry. He has been working for Min for a long time and the only thing that kept him going was the thought that he would someday be able to make pots. With that dream gone it was dull work.

Then word comes to the village that the Royal Emissary is coming to choose a commissioned potter for the palace. Min's stress levels rise and he is more strict with Tree-ear than usual. But tree-ear knows how important it is to Min, so he works even harder. Over the course of the next month, Min makes pots that are satisfactory to him and they are ready. The royal emissary comes and looks over the pottery. He sees what the town has to offer and leaves for another month to make his decision. It is between Min and another potter who came up with a new design and a new inlay process. Min's work is better but the other potter has a new style. Min works feverishly over the next month to create pots in the new fashion. the week before the emissary returns his pots are ready to be taken out of the kiln. In the firing process however, all of his pots had been ruined. He smashed them all over his yard. He had nothing to show the emissary when he returned. The other potter was commissioned. But, the emissary came to Min and told him that he wanted Min more but the new style was going to be tested. The other potter was a temporary palace potter until the emissary found out what min could do with the new style.

Min was going to refuse because he was too old to make the journey. Tree-ear volunteered to go for him. So, it was set. Min made the pots, Crane-man made a carrying bag to put them in and Tree-ear was ready to go. Before he set off, he gave a clay monkey that he snuck into the kiln to Crane-man (CM always called TE monkey). He set off. His journey was rough. Sometimes he would sleep in a village but other times he had to sleep in the woods. He reached the city of Puyo he visited the Rock of the Falling Flowers because Crane-man told him he shouldn't miss it. He climbed up the rock. At the top however, he found that he had been followed by a bandit who attempted to steal the package that had the pots in it thinking it was rice. Upon finding that it was pottery he chucked them over the cliff. Horrified, tree-ear ran down the hill and down to the river below to find the precious pots. He found them in shards. He either had to turn back to tell Min what happened or he could continue on. He decided to carry on with the biggest shard that he could find.

He reached the emissary with the single shard. even though it wasn't the full pot the emissary recognized the skill that it had. He sent Tree-ear back with news that Min had been commissioned. When he arrived in Ch'ulp'o it was to find that the bridge that he lived under, collapsed and Crane-man had been killed. He was invited to live with Min and his wife and he was given a new name, a name that meant that he was a sibling to the son that they lost. At the end of the book, Min asked him to go out and find wood to make his own wheel. He was going to be taught to make pottery.

Who would benefit from reading this book/who would I recommend this book to?

I think that anyone who reads this will like it. It has a theme of kindness and honesty throughout the whole book that anyone would benefit from.

What problems/conflicts could this book potentially cause?

It's a little slow in the beginning. It drags on when it is developing the relationships of the characters. Some people might get bored reading it.

My reaction:

I only say that it was slow because that is what I heard from other people. I read this book straight through and I didn't find it slow at all. It was a great story. Tree-ear is an extremely like able person who anyone would love. It was a great story with a happy ending.